Willard - Life without lack: living in the fullness of Psalm 23

Praise for Life Without Lack

Life Without Lack rescues the 23rd Psalm from its status as wall-plaque material, and restores it to its intended purpose as a description of reality and guide to life. If you want to know how to live in abundant satisfaction, or how to actually love somebody, or how to spend a day with Jesus, or what work consists of, or how to die to your self so that your self might come aliveI can think of no better gift than this glorious unpacking of these grand old words.

JOHN ORTBERG, senior pastor of Menlo Church; author of Id Like You More If You Were More Like Me

Everything Dallas Willard has written is a treasure. But to have this new book now is an extraordinary and quite unexpected blessing.

ERIC METAXAS, nationally syndicated radio host; #1 New York Times bestselling author of Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther

Dallas Willard helps us to understand that the Twenty-Third Psalm is not meant as a nice sentiment or for kitschy decor, it is for the very thick of our lives, the very moment of crisis. Imagine what our personal lives, families, communities, and politics would look like if we rejected the frantic striving of our day, and instead embraced the life without lack offered to us in Jesus Christ. No one has helped me to imagine and enter into that life more than Dallas Willard. I recommend this book with great joy and hopeful expectation.

MICHAEL WEAR, author of Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About the Future of Faith in America

The clear voice of Dallas Willard in his most accessible work yet shows us that an abundant life of Gods companionship, protection, and empowerment really is possible. Life Without Lack reveals how to embrace it.

JAN JOHNSON, coauthor of Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice; president, Dallas Willard Ministries

Dallas Willard was a philosophical, theological, and spiritual shepherd. So when he humbly and nurturingly expounds Psalm 23, we understand its profundity: he so dwelt in the shepherding love and care of God that he could in turn shepherd us to do likewise.

MARK LABBERTON, president, Fuller Theological Seminary

Dallas Willard leads us into life without lack, through green pastures, beside still waters as he illuminates Psalm 23. Since childhood I have known this psalm by heart, using it in times of worry and stress. Here Dr. Willard offers fresh insights; he links the psalm to other powerful Bible passages. This book is full of wisdom and joy. In the valley of the shadow of death we need not fear, the Lord is always with us.

EMILIE GRIFFIN, author of Doors Into Prayer, coauthor of Spiritual Classics with Richard J. Foster

When I read Dallas Willard I am moved to praise, to awe, to wonder, and to faith. No one can define, explain, and expound on life in the Kingdom of the heavens like Dallas. I am so glad we have this book, shaped by Dallass daily interaction with the 23rd Psalm. He tells us in the first chapter that the most important thing about us is our mind, and the most important thing about our mind is what it is fixed upon. His insights here are not speculative, they are real and practical and reliable.

JAMES BRYAN SMITH, author of The Good and Beautiful God

I had the privilege of getting to know Dallas Willard well during the latter years of his life. Two years before he died, he spoke at a meeting for major Christian leaders that I organized. Let me emphatically say that everything Dallas has shared needs to be read by those who want to understand kingdom purpose. The message delivered in Life Without Lack will inspire readers to lean on the all-sufficient Shepherd and enjoy a life abundant in rest, provision, and blessing.

JAMES ROBISON, founder and president, LIFE Outreach International, founder and publisher, The Stream (stream.org)

In the best books, living proceeds writing. This is true in spades for Dallas Willard. Several times I heard Dallas say that before his feet hit the floor in the morning he would remind himself that the Lord is my shepherd, I dont have to live in the state of want. I observed the effect on him and his interactions with others. Now, through Life Without Lack, I know the full background, vision, and process for living such a life.

TODD HUNTER, founding Bishop, Churches for the Sake of Others

2018 by Willard Family Trust

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ASV are from the American Standard Version, public domain.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version, public domain.

Scripture quotations marked THE MESSAGE are from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from New Revised Standard Version Bible. Copyright 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked THE VOICE are from The VoiceTM. 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked PAR are paraphrased by Dallas Willard.

All italics in Scripture quotations are added by the author for emphasis.

Epub Edition January 2018 ISBN 9780718091859

ISBN 978-0-7180-9185-9 (eBook)

ISBN 978-0-7180-9184-2 (HC)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Willard, Dallas, 1935-2013, author.

Title: Life without lack : living in the fullness of Psalm 23 / Dallas